Opposites Attract
by lalaloser96
Summary: Lily and James have a complicated relationship.Ok. He loves her and she hates his guts. He wants to show her he's changed and the best place to do it.Detention.Or so he thinks, could Lily really open herself up completely to someone she hated for so lon?
1. Why Lily Hates BubbleGum

Dismclaiming is not one of my favourite things to do... though I have to so here we go...

Lily and James amoung other characters belong to J.K Rowling, along with the whole of Harry Potter... I am merely one muggle filling in the blanks with my own version of a story I think should be told.

Lily sat scribbling notes. Well, by notes she meant every single word that came out of the professor's mouth. History of Magic, a very boing class, in which there was so much useless information that she had no clue what she ever needed to write down. She felt something poke the back of her head and turned. Potter. The ruddy git tried to look all innocent, looking at the professor and prentending to take notes. Feeling her stare James looked up from the notes he was taking and glanced down at her. She gave him the usual death stare that declared she was about to hex him into oblivion. She huffed and turned begining to take notes again.  
>James was more than confused. That was until he heard sniggers behind him. 'Sirius' he though and turned and low and behold, his best friend gave him a broad grin. James gave him a look that put Evan's to shame. He turned back and put down the pencil he had been holding. Great, just great. Finnally after years of trying he and the fiery tempered red head in front of him were on speaking terms. And then some force in the form of his friend had to come and ruin it. He took a glance at the door. The doorway was open and as he gazed at it he focused on a large ball rolling in the direction of their classroom. That's when he heard Sirius laughing. "Duck" He yelled. Lily looked up confused and that's when he took matters into his own hands pulling her under the desk with him. Sirius the bloody jester had set one of their most elaborite pranks. It was somewhat of a large what muggles called "Gumball". Chewed this large ball could cover a whole classroom and render many targets unable to move. Lily groaned, which made him look at her and see the position he had set himself in with the girl he fancied. Seeming as he had grabbed her she was in his lap and his arms were still around her waist. He let go, but not fast enough. "Potter, what bloody hell do you think your doing. Letting a large gumball in the middle of the class so you could so nobly save me, well great look at the mess you made." He stopped her "Hey, I didn't come up with this plan, I had no clue. Would you rather be stuck to the wall?"<br>"I would much rather be on the wall, it would be more pleasant than this." She yelled. "Fine next time I won't save you." Her words had stung, but by that time Mr. Binns realized what was happening. "Mr. Potter and Miss Evans you will have a week's detention for this."  
>Even with him at her back James felt her mouth open. "But I didn't have anything to do with this. Why would I want to be here?" She protested.<br>"Miss Evans stop your complaining, some people, me included, are in worse positions than you."  
>Well that was true the professor was plastered to the board, and many others were on walls. The only people who were safe were them two, Sirius, Remus and Peter. The other three were hidden well in a closet leaving most to believe that only James and Lily had some foresight to the event. Professor Dumbledore chose this moment to make his grand appearance. He said a quick spell which removed most the gum in the room and set many of the students and Professor Binns free. That's when the headmaster directed himself to the two of them. "Miss Evans and Mr. Potter please come to my office."<br>Now free of his clutches, Lily stood as graceful as possible, which was quite flawed with gum on her shoe. She ended up slipping straight into as rising Potter and sending them both to the awaiting ground. Lily scrambled to get off the ground and James slowly made his way up waiting for another attack of the falling Lily. They followed their chuckling headmaster out of the room and all the way to his office in silence.  
>"Please have a seat. Would either of you like a lemon drop?" He asked as he indicated the bowl of lemon drops at the front of his large desk. "No thank you." Lily said from her chair. James took one and put it i his pocket for later.<br>Lily began her defense. "Professor I really don't know why I'm here. I had nothing to do with this; it was all Potter and his gang."  
>"I am sorry Miss Evans, but I didn't witness the event, and thus am left to the word of your Muggle Studies Professor. Who doesn't believe you to be innocent in the matter." Dumbledore explained his voic neutral. James decided to defend her, even if it meant taking the blame. "But professor she really had nothing..." He began cut off by his headmaster.<br>"Fine Mr. Potter, if you please, could you please tell me what." So, James explained from the very begining all the way to the headmasters entrance. When he had finished he looked at the headmaster expectantly.  
>"I'm very sorry Mr. Potter, my hands are tied. You both will help Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest for a week was it?"<br>Lily replied defeated. "Yes, Professor."  
>"You two have better go and get some food. The elves clear up after seven."<br>Only after the two students had departed, down the moving staircase did a tall woman make her way from the shadows. "Albus, I don't think that was the best decision. The boy told the truth. Potter will be in the infirmary, before the week is up. Those two are nothing alike, actually complete opposites."  
>"Now Minerva, you would be surprised at how easy opposites attract when left to themselves." He replied with a smile.<p> 


	2. Detention Can Be Fun Or Not

Disclaiming...  
>J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. She also owns Lily and James, among other people I love, but will not mention. I am merely a muggle who wants a taste of life as a witch, and the chance to tell a story.<p>

After dinner Lily and James reported to Hagrid. Hagrid though had to work on something that as he said children should be no part of. So they ened up with in the trophey rom polishing other people's achievements, under the great care of Filch, who left the moment he brought them here. They worked in silence before James stopped and watched Lily work. She felt his stare and was uncomfotable with it. "Get working." She said as she flicked water at him.  
>"Did you just flick water at me?" He asked with a look of surprise.<br>"Yes, I did." And she flicked more water at him.  
>"You know this means war." He said and began to flick water back. They advanced from flick water to throwing sponges. Then to Lily chasing James with a water bucket. She slipped on soap and the bucket fell to the ground with a thud. They were both laughing and on the floor soaked when Filch came in to check on them. Let's just say Filch was not happy at the sight. He made them stay in the room, until it sparkled, watching the whole time. When it did sparkle the two were allowed to their rooms. Both were to exhasted to notice that they hadn't had an argument.<p>

Lily didn't see James until detention, the next day. Hagrid was again busy and Filch didn't want the two 'troublemakers' again, so they were sent to the kicthens to wash dishes. An elf came and asked James if she could clean the dishes for him. Lily kindly told the elf no, and thanked her. James' mouth was open, "Why did you do that." He demanded calling the elf back. Lily turned and looked at him. "It's not right, she doesn't want to wash dishes and we need to do this ourselves." She bent down level to the elf. "You can go he needs to do it by himself."  
>"Stay don't listen to her." He told the now extremely confused elf.<br>"You need to go." Lily repeated still level with the elf.  
>"Stay." Said James.<br>"Your only confusing him. Evans. Just let her work." He told her.  
>She was vexed. She rose unaware of the soap bar she had dropped in front of her. She took a step and slipped, falling forward. James caught her second before she hit the floor. "Please James." She pleaded. James lifted her up before turning to the even more confused elf. "You can go, I'll do them." The elf scurried away glad they had made up their minds. He liked the lady and knew what to do.<br>James and Lily washed dishes accompanied by small talk. They were halfway when the elf returned. She had two mugs with her. She indicated they go to a small table, over to the side. They went and she gestured for them to sit before, placing a hot chocolate in front of each. Lily thanked her and the elf left with a large smile. "She sweet. To do this even with what we put her through." She commented taking a sip and relaxing as the warm liqiud rushed filled her.  
>"It seems she has a favourite." James said having some of his own. "What do you mean?" She asked curious as she placed her mug down.<br>"Well, she was watching you, and was elighted when you smiled. When you thanked her, she looked like she had won the lottery." He pointed out.  
>"Oh, I wonder why?" Lily questioned holding ontu her glass, but not picking it up.<br>"You stood up for her, I guess. People probably use her and she was used to it. People usually don't take her into consideration. You did." He remark, aware that he was part of those 'people'. Lily saw the shame he felt, but didn't know how to respond. They finshed their drinks in silence, and the elf returned. She looked at them and was saddened. "Did Bea do something wrong to make you sad?" She asked near tears. James spoke immediately. "No, no you did nothing wrong." He continued. "Is your name Bea." When the elf nodded he went on. "Bea, I ask for your forgiveness. It was not right for me to give you my work. Can you fogive me." He finished.  
>The elf looked dumbstruck. "You asking me to forgive you?"<br>James nodded.  
>"Bea accept apology." She said beside herself.<br>"Thank you, my names James and this is Lily." James told her indicating the girl in front of him.  
>Bea spoke, with a smile still plastered to her face. "Would Master James and his Lily like anything else?"<br>James spoke before Lily could protest. "No. We should be getting back to those dishes." He stood up.  
>"Thank you so much for the hot chocolate, it was delicious." Lily praised, as she got up tripping on the leg of the chair. Once again James was there to catch was blushing as he was holding her. She blamed her red cheeks on the position not the person. He lifted her up for the second time that night. She wasn't balanced right. He kept his hands on her waist steadying her and then bent down and picked up her shoe which had come off during her fall and was the reason for her inbalance. "Thanks, James." she said as he handed her the shoe. With her shoe on James made sure she made it to the sink. They began to wash the dishes that were left. When they only had a few left Lily spoke. "James, I'm really proud of you for what you said back there."<br>"I was wrong." He said still regreting his actions.  
>"Yes, but you admitted it. Look how happy you made Bea." She countered.<br>"Thanks Lily." He said finishing his last dish.  
>"Consider it compensation for having to catch me all night." She said with a chuckle putting her last dish with the pile. They tracked down Bea and said goodnight and promised to visit her. Then the two walked back to the common room said their goodnights and went up the stairs to their dorms.<p> 


	3. Why Can't I Hate You

James told his friends about the past two nights leaving out the elf incident. "It seems Evans may be warming up to our Prongsie." Sirius teased in his annoying voice.

"No, Padfoot. She isn't. I think she just doesn't mind the friend zone." James said sadly. Remus slapped his hand to his face. Yes, James had grown up reasonably, but how many times had he explained the concept to him.

Peter spoke up, "Wait so you had your hands on her waist and she didn't hex you?" James hadn't thought about this, though it was true. "I guess so?" He said hesitantly, answering Peter's question.

"Prongs, don't push her too hard, and don't do something stupid or you'll lose her." Remus said. James would listen to him, seeing as Remus and Lily were good friends his advice was always the best. He only said hi, to her once, and it was when they were passing each other in the hall. Instead he was using the detentions as a means to get close to her. He felt as the walls she built up against him began to fall brick by brick. , James was doing everything in his will power not to screw up. They now only had one detention left and James for the first time in his life wished his sentence was longer. Detention gave him a reason to be with her alone and made it easy to talk. Hagrid had finally stopped being busy and so they had detention in the forest.

"Where did he go?" Lily asked looking at James.

"Not a clue." He replied they began to look around madly.

"I think he went this way." James said pointing in a direction because ever where looked the same to him. Lily nodded; trusting him for a minute was hard because whenever she did nothing good came out of it. He was surprised that she trusted him; usually she would point in the other direction and say it was that way. Even as a seventh year Lily had never really been in the Forbidden Forest. She hoped that James had. They walked in the direction that James had pointed out. Little did they know that we were going deeper into the woods until they heard a snarling. Lily clutched his arm though quickly realized what she was doing and let go. They were lost in the middle of the forest. 'Great. Thank You Potter for leading me into a death trap.' she though kicking herself for trusting him, she turned to him and said angrily "Look what you got us into to." He looked back at her. "I didn't see you giving any ideas." Well that was true, but she had never been here. "I hadn't a clue I've never been in the forest." She said trying to justify her words. "Well neither have I." This shocked Lily. "Come on that's a lie, you and your mates have had to have gone into here sometime." Suddenly she felt something tear at her leg. James was pulling her into a run, away from the creature she had never learned about, which only made it more frightening as it was gaining on them. James had other ideas though; he climbed up a near tree and pulled her up. This is when Lily began to go mentally unstable. "What was that? Am I going to die? James it's bleeding. What if it was a mutant and I turn into one?" She kept speaking fast and furious and soon felt his hand on her mouth. "You need to calm down now. Now I am going to move my hand, okay?" She nodded, and tried to relax. He moved his hand, and began to speak, "Ok, let me see your leg," She brought it out in front of him and he examined the wound. Taking the bottom of his shirt he ripped a large piece and wrapped it around her leg, tying it into a bow. It was too large for a simple healing charm, though James tried anyway. "Thanks" She said, moving her leg. She decided to check out the surroundings. She didn't see anything that was of help. She looked down, the strange beast had been joined by others of its species, they growled as they prowled the ground. James sat with his back on the tree and Lily was out on the branch, sort of hanging in mid-air. She wanted to be closer to the trunk, it looked somehow safer. She slid closer to the trunk, which also brought her closer to James. He noticed her approach and pulled her against him. She didn't like being this close to him. It wasn't that it was creepy or he smelled rather the opposite. She didn't like how it felt to be near him and how intoxicating he was. She involuntarily sighed into his chest and snuggled closer. "Wait what was I doing, this was Potter, Potter not James, breath Lily breath' she was screaming inside her head. The fact that he didn't notice was the only consolation she had. She tried again to see through the trees, but the surrounding branches were too thick and it was too dark. "Why do you hate me?" James asked, she could tell he was looking at her.

"I don't hate you, I hate what you do." She replied, it was a true statement.

"What do I do?" She made a mental list.

"I hate your arrogance." She said to start.

"But, haven't I improved at all?" He asked genuinely upset, yes that was also true. "Yes, but I hate the way you seem to never feel any embarrassment whatsoever, it's not really fair."

He seemed to weigh this, "I do feel embarrassed: just unlike most people I have Sirius to make a joke." He said honestly.

"Fine. I hate the way you have girls falling for you left and right." He seemed to really consider this. She didn't wait for him to say something just continued.

"I hate the way you excel at everything you do, without trying." He seemed to want to comment but she wouldn't let him. "I hate the way I can't hate you." She was on a roll and soon just spoke without really thinking, "I hate the way you know so much about me. I hate how I always fall when I'm around you. I hate the way I can't think when you're near. I hate the way I feel when you touch me. I hate how being with you feels." She was out of breath and out of things to hate. "What if I told you I hate the way I love you?" he whispered into her ear, sending chills through her. She cowered farther down, scared of what was happening, she wasn't in control something she needed. She turned to look up at him. He moved the hair away from the side of her neck, sending electric jolts shot throughout her. She opened my mouth in surprise, and he took the opportunity to kiss her. It was gentle and sent tingles down from her lips all the way to her toes. She surprised herself by deepen the kiss. Her hands were in his messy hair and his on her waist. When they finally broke apart, she felt her head spinning. She turned her head so it was facing forward again. He placed his head on her shoulder. She had to sort this out. "Did you mean that?" She asked. He began to speak. "I love the way you speak your mind, the way you help everyone, your courage, your smile, your freckles, the way you laugh, your blush, I love the way you always look beautiful, your clumsiness, the way I can't think right when you are close, the way your touch sends chills through me, I love how right it feels to hold you right here. And as of now I love kissing you." She was flabbergasted. She had always thought it was the chase, not any real emotion involved, just another conquest. He broke through her thoughts. "They left." The sun was slowly rising in the sky. She scooted away and he went down first. She was coming down when she slipped and came crashing down into his open arms which caught her with ease. He placed her down on the ground though the fall was dizzy making and she was swaying slightly. He laughed as he steadied her. "Don't laugh at me. I could have been hurt." His laugh died down to a chuckle.

They began to walk back in the direction they came from. Well Lily tried to walk; her leg was making her limp. James noticed and let her lean on him while they walked. When they reached the edge of the forest Lily wanted run around and dance, she was so happy and relieved. They made their way to the castle. They quickly learned that Lily and the stairs weren't working out. James had to carry her though neither exactly complained. She was brought before Madam Pomfrey. It seemed the animal had almost reached the bone and it would take at least an hour to grow the skin back. They sat waiting, talking and laughing all the while, James holding her hand. They heard a cough and looked to the doorway. Professor Dumbledore was staring at us with a smile on his face. Beside him was a shocked Professor McGonagall, putting ten galleons in his hand.


	4. Lily Thoughts On the Matter

Haha! You thought it was over, it can't be that easy for James, well not when it involves Lily.

I do not own Harry Potter or the most of the characters in this story, they belong to J.K. Rowling. I am here to tie up loose ends, and to entertain you...  
>If you have any problems please take it up with the Ministry of Magic, which I would strongly caution not to do, they have been quite busy recently... and they wouldn't believe a muggle anyway... Hope you enjoy...<br>Your Muggle

Lily gave a confused glance at James, who had the same look of puzzlement on his face. As the Headmaster and their Professor made their way Lily felt James' hand slip out of hers. She shot him a questioning look before turning her attention to the people in front of her. Dumbledore spoke having the same amount of concern and comfort in his voice as usual. "We do so apologize for everything. How Hagrid lost you both, I have yet to understand. Professor McGonagall broke in. "Miss Evans, how are you feeling?"  
>"I'm fine, just glad nothing else happened." Lily said formally, sitting up a small bit.<br>"I hope to see you in class tomorrow." The professor informed her before taking her leave.  
>When she was out of sight, Dumbledore sighed. "She gets that way when she's upset with someone." Then he saw the look on Lily's face. "Oh, not with you, my dear." She relaxed a small bit; she didn't want her professor mad at Hagrid either. "I think I should be going now, just wanted to check on Miss Evans here." Lily nodded assured him she was alright and said goodbye to the strange man. She turned to James. "That was odd."<br>"True, though I don't think we are ever going to figure out what really happened." He said watching her leg. It was strange, he could see each cell forming and sticking to others, and could only wonder at how it felt. Lily was watching him trying to read his thoughts; she gave up when his eye twitched.  
>The annoying tingling in her leg had stopped and the skin had been replaced when she and James left the infirmary. The walk to Gryffindor Tower had given Lily a chance to sort out what she was feeling. She came up with the fact that she was utterly confused with their relationship. Her hating him, then their friendship, all leading up to what happened in the forest. The girl in the forest had placed her emotions over reason, something Lily rarely did and that scared her. She didn't want to put everything she had into this and then find that she was just another one of James' conquest. She wouldn't allow herself to get hurt, especially not this way with him. She snuck a glance at him finding that he was staring at her. No, she wasn't going to get hurt, she wouldn't let him get close enough. They made their way up to the portrait; if their timing was correct they could be ready and set by second block. They agreed on a time to meet in the common room which was completely deserted when they entered. "Twenty minutes." Lily said before dashing up the stair, leaving a puzzled James' behind.<br>Lily stepped into the shower and allowed the hot water to cascade over her, using it to wash away her thoughts and give her a few minutes of peace. She stepped out feeling the chill and changed into her uniform. She did a quick drying spell, brushed her hair, making sure it wasn't a complete mess. She checked herself in the mirror before grabbing her books and placing them in her bag. She made it down to the common room with three minutes to spare.  
>James was already there waiting, and it still shocked him that he could never get over how beautiful she was. He still had a flood of emotions pour through him, just like the first time he saw her. "Hey James." She said adjusting the strap on her shoulder. "Lily." He said cordially. Lily spoke looking at the clock in the common room. "We have twenty minutes until classes get out then we need to go to Transfiguration, so we should make sure we leave in fifteen minutes. That sounds right. Doesn't it?"<br>"Uhhh, I think." James said, doing the math in his head. It did sound right. That left them with fifteen minutes to spare. James knew what he wanted to do, though Lily had other ideas. She brought out her Transfiguration homework, and asked him he could check it for her. Lily wasn't terrible at the subject she was the third best student. Though the two ahead of her were James and Sirius, which Lily could never really understand James, maybe, but Sirius? It had always baffled her. They sat down and went through the questions, James checking and explaining, Lily listening and correcting. The fifteen minutes passed and the two melted into the crowd of students going from class to class.


End file.
